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When I started my private practice, my primary speciality was grief. I chose this because of my extensive experience with grief (wrote a book, taught grief classes, volunteered with hospices, etc.).
Given that a lot of my experience was also with adolescents and I enjoyed that population, I decided to work with both teens and adults.
My grief specialty served me well as I started my private practice, and I received many referrals for people looking for art therapy for grief. I also hadn’t realized how many therapists needed a therapist to refer teens to. One third of my caseload quickly became teens.
Over time, I found myself more and more interested in other topics outside of grief.
I also encountered specific challenges to working with teens in a solo private practice that I had not anticipated (such as parents and family systems needing more support than I could provide on my own).
When I decided to restructure my business (I shrunk my caseload), I took the time to also evaluate the niche and populations I was marketing myself to. Even though I was highly successful working with teens, I decided to no longer see teens.
As I thought about my niche, I realized that over time, the clients I enjoyed working with most were highly intelligent women who experienced overwhelming thoughts and emotions.
I decided to stop marketing myself to grief, and start targeting the population I enjoyed most. I also let myself start to build other interest areas (such as autism, entrepreneurs, and religious deconstruction).
I restructured my business because I was emotionally and mentally tired. I knew that if I wanted to create a practice that was sustainable to me, I needed to work with the people I was most excited about.
At first, the amount of referrals was low. My years of experience with hospice and high schools had led to an easy pipeline of referrals. I had to create new pipelines and new marketing strategies to find my ideal clients.
Although it was initially more work, I am now so grateful I did it. My entire caseload is full of engaging clients that I am excited to work with every day.
Similar to points in my essay on being multi-passionate and multi-capable, just because we are good at something or it is easy for us, doesn’t mean that is what we need to do. Our practices will be far more life-enhancing and sustainable for us if we honor what interests us most.
Thank you for reading. If you’d like to read more, sign up for my FUNletter. If you’d like support as you create a private practice that honors your needs, you can learn about my business consultation services here.